‘Glee’ recap: ‘Swan Song’

“Let’s just enjoy this week and look forward to our big comeback next year.” – Finn

I’ve reached a point with “Glee” where even when I enjoy a lot of things about an episode — as I did with “Swan Song” — it doesn’t matter. The recent string of unbearable episodes has completely severed my connection to the show (a connection that survived through Season 2 and Season 3), possibly for good.

It’ll take a lot more than a halfway decent episode to bring it back, and I just don’t see that happening given the current state of the show.

Before we get to some of the good — or at least better — stuff, let’s touch on a bit of the bad. Pretty much everything involving the future of New Directions and Sue Sylvester totally sucked. It was stupid. Terrible. Lame. Pick the derogatory adjective you like best. It’s ridiculous to believe that disqualification at Sectionals would cause everyone to quit the club, but whatever. That’s typical “Glee.”

Everyone ignoring Santana’s explanation for why Marley collapsed? Kitty not facing *any* repercussions or consequences for what she did? I hate all the new characters enough that I’m happy whenever their screen time is minimal, but that’s just sloppy and nonsensical. Of course the eating disorder storyline has never been anything but sloppy and nonsensical, so again I say whatever.

Let’s move on to the episode’s biggest “controversy”: pairing up Sam and Brittany. I like the two characters. I like the two actors. Their duet on “Somethin’ Stupid” was sweet and endearing in a way the romantic numbers used to be on “Glee.” But I wasn’t really sure how I felt about them as a couple (I was sort of into the idea they’d be friends, since male-female friendships aren’t explored much on the show outside of Kurt and Rachel).

As it turns out, that doesn’t matter. “Glee” wants Sam and Brittany to be a couple, so they’ll be a couple. Except there’s one tiny problem: The Brittana fans who will never accept it. Instead of letting the audience see for ourselves why Sam and Brittany should be together, “Glee” delivers one of its strangest meta-moments yet by having Brittany address the issue head on:

“I just like you too much to put you in danger,” she tells Sam. “It’s not just Santana, it’s like all lesbians of the nation. I don’t know how they found out about Santana and I dating, but once they did they started sending me tweets and Facebook messages on Lord Tubbington’s wall. I think it means a lot to them to see two super-hot popular girls in love. And I worry that if they find out about you and I dating that they’ll turn on you and get really violent and hurt your beautiful face and mouth.”

Now, I guess this is the show’s attempt at trying to diffuse a situation but it feels a bit like pouring fuel on a fire instead. “Hey, lesbians! You don’t like the idea of Brittany dating a guy again? Well, don’t dare say anything about it because you’ll just look dangerous and violent!”

That’s an odd strategy for a show that’s already bleeding fans.

And it’s unfortunate, because it reminds me of this interview with Marti Noxon before she joined the show’s writing staff in Season 3. Her time was short and not especially distinguished (her two writing credits were the OK “Choke” and awful “Extraordinary Merry Christmas”), but Noxon had an interesting take on where Brittany and Santana might be heading (before they officially coupled up in Season 3):

“It’s so politically incorrect to make a character gay and then make them ‘un-gay’ again,” Noxon said about Brittany. “Like once you become gay, you’ve crossed over, or, you’re not allowed to be a person who doesn’t want to be defined by a label like that. You’re not allowed to be a person who says, ‘I just love that person right now, and maybe I’ll love something else at some point, so I don’t really want to say if I’m gay or bi or straight or anything else. I just love this person.’ I feel like that’s where Brittany is. Without overthinking it, she’s very evolved.”

Noxon raised the issue by referencing “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” characters Tara and Willow, and noted the writers on that show discussed that sort of “evolved” thinking for one of them (presumably Willow), but never actually went there.

On one hand I think it’s great that “Glee” is going there now, and it would be cool if we could really view Brittany in that way. But it takes more than snarky dialogue and meta references to actually pull it off. Brittany is a lovable character and I think most viewers would root for her relationship with Sam if we simply had a reason to. (And it might help ease possible complaints if Santana still had a meaningful role on the show, and maybe a new love interest of her own.)

But just like with Rachel and Brody, or any of the random romances between the new kids at McKinley, “Glee” is diving head first into the deep end, without bothering to see if there’s any water in the pool.

Didn’t I say I enjoyed a lot about “Swan Song”? I did. Especially Lea Michele’s “O Holy Night” and Chris Colfer’s “Being Alive” (he’s destined to star in “Company” one day). Rachel and Finn had a sweet phone call that wasn’t as moving as the discussion between Kurt and Blaine last week, but still showed us a glimmer of what once was.

And I really appreciated these words of wisdom from Rachel: “Glee is about the love of music. It’s about people like Puck and Artie not just singing together but actually being friends. And Brittany and Mike dancing just for fun when no one else is around. It’s even about the romances. I know they come and go, but they’re just as important.”

That’s a pretty good description of why I really, really used to like “Glee.”

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I feel apathetic too. I never thought a finchel scene wouldn’t land, but having Rachel tell Finn what to think sucked. It is bad enough they made him a nursemaid for the club, play out tired stuff with sue and scrapped a pivotal scene with will. But we had to patronise him. Gahhhh, cory monteith deserves better.

By: Vicki

12.07.2012 @ 11:08 AM

I agree–hate the new New Directions–and love the NYADA stroryline.

Guess they should have done the spinn-off;)

By: chuck

12.07.2012 @ 1:21 PM

The problem as I see it is that the nayda stuff has left me just as cold as the new glee club stuff and that makes glee a cold and shallow show. The brody character and the actor playing that character has made me not want to watch glee for the simple fact that it reminds me of the cold harded way Ryan Murphy destroyed the emotional bond that a lot of viewers had for the show. Rachel and Kirk singing and the broadway dream has no drama in it that I care about it is like look at us we made it and the writers have already established we made it so again I say who cares. My love for Finn cannot keep my interest in this show anymore and it is sad but hey keep writing whatever you want glee I stopped caring and that is the real tragedy of this whole process.

By: Athena

12.07.2012 @ 2:40 PM

Thank you for pointing out how incredibly wrong that lesbian hater joke is. Glee has truly fallen off the wagon, as the show resorts to insulting and attacking their fans now. This is the same show which advocated for equality and support of LGBT rights. That same show is now bullying a minority, sending a wrong hateful massage about lesbians for millions of people to see. How anyone can still support this show is beyond me.
What makes everything worse is that we are NOT upset over Brittany dating a guy. The reason why we are angry over the Brittany and Sam situation is because of the double standards. While dating Santana, Brittany had no voice, no active role on her own relationship. They had a total of 5 minutes and 30 seconds of private conversation all last season, while Brittany and Sam have had the same amount, if not more, plus a love duet, in just 9 episodes. That’s a blatant disregard for equality and a clear sign of disrespect for the lesbian relationship. That’s not to mention the fact that Glee has broken up two interracial couples, not even addressing that one of them (Sam and Mercedes) had even broken up, in order to make way for the most boring and predictable couple they could come up with. I don’t even know what to call this mess, but it’s certainly not “revolutionary.”

By: jj

12.07.2012 @ 3:15 PM

Absolutely wonderful review. I’m so glad that at least some people understand what the fans are so offended by in regards to that awful lesbian joke and everything surrounding it.

By: Ken Scott

12.07.2012 @ 3:24 PM

The problem, in my opinion with the Brittney-Santana relationship is that it was never beileveable. From everything we know about Brittney is that she is not intelligent and is very easy manipulable. Similiarly, Santana is a bully and always has been. I never bought into their lesbian relatiionship because I never bought into Brittney being a lesbian, she was always just someone who was following Santana. I think she loved Santana because they were best friends and that is the way Santana wanted to express it but I never bought into it.

Maybe that is just me.

By: SCN

12.07.2012 @ 5:46 PM

Well, for any Finn fans still under any illusions about where he stands now: just listen to the blatantly patronizing and insincere ‘message’ in Rachel’s words to him in the phonecall, and pay attention…

By: Rash

12.08.2012 @ 4:54 AM

The finchel phone call robbed Finn of his moment to grow by himself .. Awful. But Rachel is utterly saintly now. She can do no wrong. Never thought the show wouldundo the finchel tether.

By: Ela

12.08.2012 @ 8:51 PM

Can I PLEASE just point out, that Brittany never decided she was a lesbian? I think she said Bisexual, which is A THING GUYS. Also, she’s just exploring. She never wanted to be labeled–all she wants is to be happy. Santana made her happy, and I think she still loves her very deeply, but Sam makes her laugh and understands her without treating her like a child (i.e. Artie).

That being said, everything else I feel is pretty true.

By: Ela

12.08.2012 @ 8:56 PM

And I am really upset about everyone seeming to blame losing Sectionals on Marley’s fainting. (What the hell happened to you, Tina Cohen-Chang?!) And I was even more furious that everyone ignored Santana’s accusation that Kitty was feeding Marley laxatives and Kitty recieved no hate or blame. It was obvious what she was doing, but everyone decided to take it out on Marley.

By: Judy

12.13.2012 @ 6:31 PM

Glee has done more for kids and the arts than any single influence this century, imo, and everyone in the cast is and has been mindblowingly talented. Badmouthing it because you don’t like the fact that people can be bi-sexual as well as gay, and love whomever they love does no good service either to the arts of to LGBT kids. The show entertains, and it has successfully done so for more years than many shows. I applaud the courage of the Producers, Directors, Writers and hope the show continues.